| Agence
France Presse September 19, 2004 SINGAPORE LAST week's merger deal involving two of Singapore's largest media groups was made purely on a commercial basis, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in remarks published Sunday, Sept 19, as he dismissed suggestions the government had a hand in the matter. "The government didn't interfere. It's entirely up to the companies," Lee was quoted as saying in the Sunday Times. The decision was based on "hard headed commercial assessment," he said. Top publisher Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and broadcaster MediaCorp on Friday announced a merger of their loss-making television and newspaper operations just four years after competition was introduced in the industry. "They had to make that decision whether they want to carry on; they see light at the end of the tunnel, or they think they are going deeper and deeper into a hole," Lee told local reporters at the sidelines of a community event on Saturday. Under the deal, SPH, publisher of a stable of profitable newspapers led by the Straits Times, will give up its two floundering television channels to MediaCorp. A new company called MediaCorp TV Holdings will manage their joint television operations, with SPH taking a 20 percent stake and the rest held by MediaCorp. SPH will also take a 40 percent stake in MediaCorp Press, publisher of the subscription-free newspaper Today, which had been set up to compete with the Straits Times. SPH will merge its free tabloid Streats with Today, leaving Singapore with only one newspaper distributed for free to readers. |
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